Soya Chunks- Vegetable Kurma served with Naan.

“Soya Chunks- Vegetable Kurma served with Naan” … kurma is my most favorite curry of all times from childhood and I gogged on it everytime with pulav or panpolos … I still stick to the same old recipe learnt from mom as it was simply delicious and there was nothing needed to be changed in it … however this time I went ahead, took some short cuts and tried adding in powders in place of whole masala ingredients and it turned out fantastic … Yummilicious …

** It had been quite sometime since I had prepared Kurma and I was really missing it a lot. There was a time when say about two decades back when kurma and pulav where prepared at least twice a month in my home. Somehow in the last 1.5 decades things turned out to be not favorable and I had to forgo so many of my favorite dishes though I did prepare them at least once or twice a year. Well, now coz. of pandemic we are all stuck at cross roads with official work going on bare minimum scale at times, so I do get times.

** Naan is again my childhood favorite but those days we did not know how to cook it, in recent decade thanks to google and you tube we get to learn a lot, but even then it is rarely I prepare these dishes. So for once I decided that it would be kurma with naan for lunch and we really loved it a lot. I added on pressure cooked dried green peas which I had kept aside while preparing gashi along with some veggies and soya chunks. Served with naan it simply scrumptious and I did keep some kurma aside as I am going enjoy it with dosa for bf.

** Here is my simple recipe for “Soya Chunks- Vegetable Kurma served with Naan” … only a slight variation from my previous recipe … I have used powders and dessicated coconut here … do try out this one, it tastes great with pulav, naan, parathas, panpolo or even kori rotti …

** Ingredients :

Soya Chunks : 12-15

Dried Green Peas/ Matar/ Vatana : 1 cup pressure cooked.

Capsicum/ Donne Mirsanaga/ Simla Mirchi :

Carrot/ Gajjar : One large sized.

Salt/ Namak/ Meeta : to taste

** For the Masala :

Cus Cus/ Poppy Seeds : 1 tsp

Cashew Nuts/ Kajjubi/ Kaju : 10-12

Onion/ Piyavu/ Kanda : one large sized.

Curry Leaves/ Kadipatta/ Karbev : 5-6

Green Chillies/ Tarni Mirsanga/ Hari Mirchi : 4-5

Ginger/ Alle’/ Adrak : 1 inch

Garlic/ Losun/ Lehsun : 6-8

Goda Masala or Garam Masala Powder : 1 ttsp

Malvani Masala Powder : 1 tblsp 

Coriander/ Dhania/ Kothambari Powder : 1 tsp

Turmeric/ Haldi Powder : ½ tsp

Cumin/ Jeera Powder : ½ tsp

Desiccated Coconut/ Khobre/ Sukka Nariyal : half cup grated.

Tamarind/ Imly/ Chinchama : a small marble sized piece.

Oil/ Tel : 2-3 tblsp

** To prepare the Kurma :

Oil/ Tel : 3 tblsp

Curry Leaves/ Kadipatta/ Karbev : 8-10

Onion/ Piyavu/ Kanda : One finely chopped.

Kashmiri Red Chilly Powder/ Mirchi Tikkat/ Mirsange Pitti : ½ tsp

Coconut Milk/ Nariyal Ras/ Narla Rosu : ¼ cup

Coriander Leaves/ Kottambari Pallo/ Dhania : one handful

Homemade Loni/ Butter : 2 tblsp

** Both Malvani Masala Powder and Goda Masala Powder are store bought and they are easily available so you can purchase the same as they are very useful in preparation of many dishes. In case it is not available you can replace Garam Masala Powder for God Masala Powder and I think for Malvani Masala Powder you can use any curry masala powder of which I am really not sure.

** Wash and soak soya chunks in hot water with 1 tsp of salt. Mix well, cover and keep it aside for 20 minutes. Drain of the water and also squeeze out water from soya chunks, rinse under water and then once again squeeze out the water absorbed by the soya and keep it aside ready to be used later on.

** To prepare the masala paste: Heat oil in a thick bottomed kadai, when hot lower the heat and add in cus cus and fry for a minute. Add in cashew nuts and fry for a minute and then add one chopped onion and curry leaves and further fry for 2-3 minutes. Now add in green chillies, ginger, garlic and continue frying for a few more minutes on medium to low heat.

** Lower the heat and add in goda masala, malvani masala, coriander powder, haldi powder, jeera powder, mix well and fry for a few minutes. Lastly add desiccated coconut and fry for a few minutes. Remove from heat, add tamarind piece and mix well. Keep it aside to get slightly cooled and then put it in a mixer grinder and grind to a very fine paste.

** Wash and cut capsicum into 1 inch sized squares, keep this aside. Peel off the skin off carrot, cut it into ¾ inch sized cubes, wash, drain and keep it aside ready too. Peel off the skin of onion and chop it finely and keep this also aside. Keep ready one cup of green peas ready if using fresh, if using dried ones then pressure cook and keep it aslo ready.

** Note : I used dried green peas, which I soaked overnight and then pressure cooked to 2 whistles. I had prepared a gashi curry using it the previous day, so I kept aside 1.5 cups of pressure cooked ones aside to be added into the preparation of kurma. You can use fresh ones or frozen ones too. You can also any other desired veggies of your choice.

** In a vessel or kadai add 2 cups of water and bring to boil, add in the carrot pieces and let cook on medium heat till 40% done. Now add in the capsicum pieces and cook both together till 80% done. Add in the pressure cooked peas, mix well, remove from fire and keep it aside ready. If using fresh peas add along with the carrots to cook, if using frozen add at end.

** To prepare the Kurma : Heat oil in a thick bottomed kadai, when hot lower the heat to medium and add in the finely chopped onion and fry till its translucent, add in curry leaves and further fry for a minute. Now add kashmiri red chilly powder, ½ tsp salt and mix well, immediately add in the prepared and kept soya chunk and mix well.

** Keep frying all for 2-3 minutes till the soya chunks are slightly fried, as it tastes better then unlike added just towards end. Now add in the ground masala and mix well, keep frying for another 2-3 minutes. If too dry you can add some water to enable to fry it well. Now add 1 cup of water, mix well and bring to a good boil on medium heat stirring often.

** Lower the heat, add cooked carrot, capsicum and peas along with the water in which it was cooked. Check salt to taste, cover and let cook for 10-15 minutes on low heat, stirring in between to avoid getting burnt. Lastly add in ¼ cup of coconut milk, check and add water if necessary if the gravy is too thick, mix well and let cook for another 2 minutes.

** Lastly garnish the kurma with finely chopped coriander leaves and remove from fire. Now add in fresh homemade butter on top of the curry, cover and keep it aside for atleast 20 minutes for the flavors to seep in and the curry to get settled. You can use store butter or fresh homemade ghee too, the choice is yours, you can skip it if not desired.

** “Soya Chunks- Vegetable Kurma” is done and ready to be served with any dish of your choice. Tastes best with Naan, Paratha, Roti, Chapati, Pulav, Poori, kori rotti or even our very own panpolo. I usually prepared kurma in excess, as it tastes great next morning for breakfast with panpolo or appos or any dosas too which I learned from my father.

** Our Indian Curries are something loved worldwide and they go very well in combination of several other dishes. Do try out this delicious kurma and enjoy with your family and friends, I am sure it will be loved by all. You can add in any other vegetables of your choice, leave out soya chunks if you do not want to add the same or it is not in stock at home.

** Always keep a stock of soya chunks and try to include them into your diet in some form as they are fatless yet full of nutrition and have immense health benefits. You can even add them to pulavs, biryani, etc. You can relish them guilt free when added to curries or biryani unlike other meat products, but yes, one has to develp a taste for it.

** There are many more delicious dishes both South Indian and North Indian though the listing on top are Konkani Saraswat/ GSB dishes. They are alll health, delicious and easy to prepare and above all there is nothing like homemade food, even if it does not fully go to the standards of hotel food, the later reason only being excess fat in preparation of dishes.

** I served these with “Garlic Butter Naan” and it was an excellent combo. Sharing the link to the recipe below, however, you may also browse through the blog for more recipes …
https://gayathrifoodbytes.blogspot.com/2021/06/garlic-butter-naan.html#more